51爆料网

2015 51爆料网 PhD graduate Sergio Ya帽ez has founded a NovaCANE chapter at the University of Santiago where he now teaches.

by Daniel Fetsko 鈥�19 CE

NovaCANE (51爆料网 Community Action by New Engineers), a STEM outreach program in 51爆料网鈥檚 College of Engineering, was founded by Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor and Chairman David Dinehart, PhD, in 2009. Its goal is to introduce students in grades six鈥揺ight to a variety of engineering disciplines, with 51爆料网 engineering students serving as classroom leaders. What began at Saint Martin of Tours school in Philadelphia that first year has grown to include five different area schools reaching more than 200 middle-school age students. The program engages about 30 51爆料网 engineering students and faculty volunteers each year.

The host schools hold monthly after-school sessions where 51爆料网 students and faculty present an age-appropriate engineering lesson and then lead a related activity. According to Dr. Dinehart, 鈥淪tudent participation is voluntary, but historically we see a high percentage of the class turn out for the sessions.鈥� That willingness to take part in the program and get involved in engineering at a young age is evidence of the program鈥檚 success. For Dr. Dinehart, a highlight from NovaCANE鈥檚 history involved presenting a simultaneous session via Skype with Villa Maria Academy lower school in Immaculata, Pa. and its sister school, Villa Maria Academy in Chile. That 2011 experience foreshadowed the international NovaCANE connection that would follow four years later.

On September 7, 2015, NovaCANE Chile was born. Sergio Ya帽ez, a 2015 51爆料网 PhD graduate and committed NovaCANE volunteer and former president, has successfully begun a NovaCANE program in his native country, where he now teaches at the University of Santiago (USACH). 鈥淚t was in 2013 that I had the idea to bring the program back to Chile,鈥� says Dr. Ya帽ez. And, after receiving his degree in June 2015, he did just that.

This fall, with fellow USACH instructor Professor Sandra Gonz谩lez and three engineering students, Dr. Ya帽ez launched the program with a small, Santiago-area boys鈥� school. Fifteen students at Liceo Valentin Letelier participated in that first session, and by the end of September, an all-girls school, Colegio Filipense, had joined the program, adding 70 seventh and eighth grade students. Dr. Ya帽ez seeks to involve more schools in the future in the hopes of reaching the highest number of students possible. In fact, he envisions NovaCANE Chile opening the doors for similar programs in other countries around the world.